Charlottesville City’s Director of Disinformation, Ric Barrick, is at it again. This time he’s promising something that never has existed: a “free” lunch.
Barrick deceptively headlined his June 18, 2010 press release (see below), “Charlottesville Parks Department to Provide Free Lunch this Summer,” assuming that media outlets would “swallow” and “spit out whole” his pablum.
A fatal flaw in the $93-thousand-dollar-man’s dispatch is the assertion that the “Parks Department” is “providing” the lunch. They are not. Actually, the complimentary chow primarily is being “provided” by the Federal Government’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which Barrick references but does not attribute or describe in the release.
Why is this error problematic? Barrick, a prime mover in Charlottesville’s Democrat City Hall Cabal, once again is abusing his office to promote an ongoing Charlottesville Democrat vote-buying scheme, by attempting to paint Charlottesville City government as the “free” lunch benefactor.
If anyone is to be given “credit” for the government giveaway, it is the American taxpayer, who is funding this “free” feeding frenzy to the tune of $360 million!
And it’s not only the citizen-taxpayer who is demeaned by this government program. The United States Department of Agriculture, who administers SFSP, insultingly refers to the “free” lunch disbursement locations as “feeding sites,” as if these federal custodians were tending to livestock.
Fostered dependence upon government is an ugly thing no matter how you look at it: it hurts the providers (taxpayers) by stealing their property, and it destroys the recipients (modern-day serfs) by stealing their dignity—all of this under the guise of a “free” lunch.
Ric Barrick, your government education obviously has failed you miserably. Here’s your summer reading assignment, courtesy of Milton Friedman. We’ll expect a book report in the fall.
Read Barrick’s deliciously deceiptful press release:
City of Charlottesville
Office of Communications
City Hall
P.O. Box 911 – Charlottesville, VA 22902
Telephone 434.970.3129
Facsimile 434.970.3890
www.charlottesville.orgFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18th, 2010
TO: Local Media
Contact: Ric Barrick
(434) 970-3129Charlottesville Parks Department to Provide Free Lunch this Summer
Summer Food Service Program Begins on Monday, June 21st for City Residents
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA The City of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department is participating in the Summer Food Service Program starting June 21 and running through July 30, meals will be provided to all children without charge. Acceptance and participation requirements for the program and all activities are the same regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. Meals will be provided at South First Street and Westhaven Community centers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:15.
# # #
I guess our children will go hungry on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Any ideas as to what my tax dollars are serving? Let us know if you discover what is on on the menu. I’d like to do an email blast to my 2,214 contacts if it’s something yummy, like the great lunches from The Carving Board Cafe etc.
Seriously, find out what is on the menu. The children are stirring….
Is this where all the mean people in the area “hang”? Just curious.
I realize that this may be curiously out of place, but I’d like to push back a bit.
You (and Uncle Milty) are right — TANSTAAFL. If I had not learned that at my father’s knee, I had a second opportunity when I attended the venerable Darden GSBA. (For the record, I actually worked my way through school — doable in 1981-1983.)
And, right again, this “free” lunch being provided to children is the result of Federal funding, which trickles down from taxpayers (and, more appropriately, IOU’s which may be honored by future generations).
I could point out the obvious: that to the children recieving the eats, they are provided at no cost (therefore free) to them. I assure you that no child’s dignity is stolen from them, unless, of course, they allow some pinhead to steal it from them. There is no dignity in going hungry (and I do not mean that in the casual sense your fanbase sees the word). And, speaking for myself, there is no civic pride felt here when we have children going hungry.
Now, let’s be honest — a stretch, I know.
Half (more or less) of American taxpayers are already getting what is tantamount to a free lunch — paying no Federal Income tax. Of the half (or so) who do pay something, their contribution is, shall we say, a pittance. In fact, I’ll bet that the 80-20 rule applies — 20 percent of the folks pay 80 percent of the freight.
I’ll also bet — dollars to donuts — 20 percent of the populace logs 80 percent of the complaints. And that 80 percent of the complainers contribute 20% of the taxes paid. Moral of the story: earn just enough to pay some taxes — any amount — to feel justified in beating down the least among us — aka, the “other guy”.
Now, let’s put this into some perspective. $360 million is not chump change. Exactly how many days of warfare in Iraq does $360 million cover?
Now, if you gave me a choice, between leveling a piece of the dessert and spilling American (not to mention non-American) blood — for what? a day? — and feeding hungry children (even at the risk of injuring their fragile dignity)… can you guess where I am headed here?
Just some food for thought. Apologies in advance for an indigestion it may cause your readers.
Hi Eric (aka proac aka antiboyd),
If you truly are interested in being “honest,” why don’t you post under your real name?
Glad to have you participating on the blog and in the The Schilling Show’s radio listening audience.
@Frugal DIY, obviously they’re eating gruel if they’re only using $93k. Look at all of the programs that are using the money: http://charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=1540 . What the three-day program has to do with any of this I have no clue. Maybe that’s just to allow those kids who are not in any program to eat and not feel left out. Maybe the actual outlay for Charlottesville is $360M because that money has to feed an awful lot of children.
@proac, isn’t there a blog name for somebody who tries to change the topic of the thread?
Well, gee, Rob. You could have at least posted all three of my comments. Seems like you have somethng common with the Daily Progress. Perhaps “voice to the voiceless” is just a tag line?
@Cville Eye
“isn’t there a blog name for somebody who tries to change the topic of the thread?”
Rob Schilling?
[…] And the next time you hear a Marxist politician offering you “free” food, remember two things: 1) government “offers” always arrive with strings attached; and 2) there’s no such thing as, nor has there ever been, a free lunch. […]
[…] worse than the concept of vote-purchasing with “free” government food, is that the monies expended for this boondoggle are siphoned from the city’s Capital […]